Getting Started

I’ll be guiding you on how to setup the backend.

Installation

IDE

I recommend setting up your preferred IDE first for the Laravel application environment. We personally use PHPStorm for convenience, but you can choose any IDE you like.

Local Development Environment

We are using Laravel Sail to run the application locally, but you can use whichever you prefer, such as Laravel Homestead, Laravel Herd, or even XAMPP.

If you’re going to use Laravel Sail, it’s recommended to review the Laravel Sail documentation.

Caution

The backend requires Redis because of Laravel Horizon.

Setup Backend

Clone Repository

1. Clone the repository from GitHub using your preferred terminal.

   git clone https://github.com/DipluX-Solutions/capturit-laravel.git

2. Install packages

   cd capturit-laravel
   composer install
   npm install && npm run build

Setup environment variable

1. Create a .env file and copy the contents inside the .env.example file.

   .env.example

   APP_NAME=CapturitAPI
   APP_ENV=local
   APP_KEY=
   APP_DEBUG=true
   APP_TIMEZONE=UTC
   APP_URL=
   
   APP_LOCALE=en
   APP_FALLBACK_LOCALE=en
   APP_FAKER_LOCALE=en_US
   
   APP_MAINTENANCE_DRIVER=file
   APP_MAINTENANCE_STORE=database
   
   BCRYPT_ROUNDS=12
   
   LOG_CHANNEL=stack
   LOG_STACK=single,sentry_error,sentry_critical
   LOG_DEPRECATIONS_CHANNEL=null
   LOG_LEVEL=debug
   
   DB_CONNECTION=mysql
   DB_HOST=127.0.0.1
   DB_PORT=3306
   DB_DATABASE=
   DB_USERNAME=root
   DB_PASSWORD=
   
   SESSION_DRIVER=database
   SESSION_LIFETIME=120
   SESSION_ENCRYPT=false
   SESSION_PATH=/
   SESSION_DOMAIN=null
   
   BROADCAST_CONNECTION=log
   FILESYSTEM_DISK=local
   QUEUE_CONNECTION=redis
   
   CACHE_STORE=database
   CACHE_PREFIX=
   
   MEMCACHED_HOST=127.0.0.1
   
   REDIS_CLIENT=predis
   REDIS_HOST=127.0.0.1
   REDIS_PASSWORD=null
   REDIS_PORT=6379
   REDIS_DB=0
   REDIS_CACHE_DB=1
   
   ABLY_API_KEY=
   
   MAIL_MAILER=smtp
   MAIL_HOST=smtp.sendgrid.net
   MAIL_PORT=465
   MAIL_USERNAME=apikey
   MAIL_PASSWORD=
   MAIL_ENCRYPTION=ssl
   MAIL_FROM_ADDRESS=
   MAIL_FROM_NAME=
   
   AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID=
   AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY=
   AWS_DEFAULT_REGION=us-east-1
   AWS_BUCKET=
   AWS_USE_PATH_STYLE_ENDPOINT=false
   
   VITE_APP_NAME="${APP_NAME}"
   
   CLOUDFLARE_R2_TOKEN=
   CLOUDFLARE_R2_ACCESS_KEY_ID=
   CLOUDFLARE_R2_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY=
   CLOUDFLARE_R2_BUCKET=
   CLOUDFLARE_R2_BACKUP_BUCKET=
   CLOUDFLARE_R2_ENDPOINT=
   CLOUDFLARE_R2_URL=
   
   FIREBASE_CREDENTIALS=
   FIREBASE_PROJECT_ID=
   
   OCTANE_SERVER=swoole
   CIPHERSWEET_KEY=
   SENTRY_LARAVEL_DSN=null
   
   DISCORD_BACKUP_WEBHOOK=

2. Update the APP_KEY

   You can generate the APP_KEY using a command, or you can use the existing APP_KEY on the server. If you want to generate a new APP_KEY without using the one on the server, simply run the command.

   php artisan key:generate

3. Update the APP_URL to match your local url

   .env

   APP_URL=http://localhost:8080

4. Update the ABLY_API_KEY

   You can obtain the API_KEY from Ably or you can ask the owner/client to provide it so you can set it up locally.

   Note

   We use Ably on the backend to send event and notification data to the mobile app, enabling real-time(not really) updates.

5. Update the MAIL_XXX

   You can setup this after creating an account from Twilio SendGrid or you can ask the owner/client to provide it so you can set it up locally.

   You can obtain the MAIL_PASSWORD after generating an API key. You should be able to create it under Settings -> API Keys

   You can obtain the MAIL_FROM_ADDRESS after setting up the Sender Identity under Settings -> Sender Authentication.

   You can decide what to put in MAIL_FROM_NAME, it’s simply the sender’s name.

   Note

   We use SendGrid to send recovery codes.

6. Update CLOUDFLARE_R2_XXX

   You should able to set this up after creating R2 API Tokens.

   1. Create/Login your CloudFlare Account
   2. Go to R2 Object Storage
   3. Create buckets for capturit-backup and capturit-storage
      • capturit-backup: For storing backup of project files and database

        Note

        The sensitive keys and files are excluded from this backup. You can modify the configuration in config -> backup.php
      • capturit-storage: For storing images such as event cover, album photos, etc…
   4. Create an API token by navigating to Manage R2 API Tokens
   5. Update the .env file with the details displayed after creating the API token. Simply add the information to the .env file.

7. Update FIREBASE_XXX

   You should be able to set this up after the mobile developer sets up the Firebase account. Just ask them for the details.

   You’ll need to get the json file from Firebase then put it in storage -> app -> keys

   .env

   FIREBASE_CREDENTIALS=keys/capturit_firebase.json

   After getting the json file, open it and copy the value from project_id key then paste it in .env

   .env

   FIREBASE_PROJECT_ID=<project_id>

8. Update CIPHERSWEET_KEY

   Just follow the Ciphersweet docs

   Note

   The initial plan is to use this for searching text in messages, but it is not part of the MVP. Therefore, you can choose a different approach for this.

9. Update SENTRY_LARAVEL_DSN

   You don’t need to set this up in your local environment, as it is used for error monitoring in deployment projects.

10. Update DISCORD_BACKUP_WEBHOOK

    This is related to backups and is used for sending backup events to Discord. You can use other platforms, such as Slack, to send events. Simply modify it in config -> backup.php

We are done setting up the environment variable.

Setup the database

To set up the database, ensure that MySQL is running on your machine or VM. Then, run the following command:

php artisan migrate --seed

This will set up the base database for Capturit.

Run the application

This depends on how you set up your local environment, but you can simply run this command:

php artisan serve

This should allow your Laravel application to run.